different between superintendent vs potentate

English

Etymology

From Ecclesiastical Latin superintendens, a calque of Ancient Greek ????????? (epískopos); thence being distantly related to English bishop.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?sju?p???n?t?nd?nt/, /?su?p???n?t?nd?nt/

Noun

superintendent (plural superintendents)

1. A person who is authorized to supervise, direct or administer something.
2. (Commonwealth of Nations) A police rank used in Commonwealth countries, ranking above chief inspector, and below chief superintendent.
3. The manager of a building, usually a communal residence, who is responsible for keeping the facilities functional and often collecting rent or similar payments, either as also the building's landlord or on behalf of same. Often abbreviated "super".
4. The head of a Sunday school.
5. In some Protestant churches, a clergyman having the oversight of the clergy of a district.
6. (chiefly US) A janitor.

Synonyms

• manager
• foreman
• chief, head, head man
• controller, comptroller
• overseer
• supervisor

Derived terms

• supt. (abbreviation)
• SP (abbreviation)
• chief superintendent
• detective superintendent (DSupt)
• detective chief superintendent (DCS)
• superintendential

Related terms

• superintend
• superintendency

Translations

See also

• (policing) police constable (PC), woman police constable (WPC), detective constable (DC), detective sergeant (DS), detective inspector (DI), detective chief inspector (DCI)

Adjective

superintendent (not comparable)

1. Overseeing; superintending.

Romanian

Etymology

From German Superintendent

Noun

superintendent m (plural superintenden?i)

1. superintendent

Declension

English

Etymology

From Middle English potentat, from Old French, from Late Latin potent?tus (“rule, political power”), from Latin pot?ns (“powerful, strong”), the active present participle of possum (“I am able”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p??.t?n.te?t/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?po?.t?n.te?t/

Noun

potentate (plural potentates)

1. A powerful leader; a monarch; a ruler.
   • 1592, Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part I, act iii, scene 2

     But Kings and mightie?t Potentates mu?t die,
     For that's the end of humane mi?erie.

   • 1900, Theodore Dreiser, "Sister Carrie"

     She was now one of a group of oriental beauties who, in the second act of the comic opera, were paraded by the vizier before the new potentate as the treasures of his harem.

2. A powerful polity or institution.
3. (derogatory) A self-important person.

Usage notes

This term usually carries connotations or implications of ancient despotism before advanced Western conceptions of civil law and Enlightenment values; in other words, a potentate can be described as a king or realm that exercises "raw", absolute power by decree and entrenched in "exotic" customs and traditions (cf. Orientalism). For example, a "Hindu potentate" would refer to those petty kings who controlled various small dominions in India before the British Raj. Particularly in the second sense, use of "potentate" to refer to Western states even before the modern era is rare, and may even be intended humorously in such a case.

Related terms

Translations

Adjective

potentate (comparative more potentate, superlative most potentate)

1. (obsolete) Regnant, powerful, dominant.